


The One Where Bucky is Steve's Weakness

by JinxQuickfoot



Series: Weaknesses [24]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Remembers, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hydra, Kidnapping, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers as the Winter Soldier, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23629468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JinxQuickfoot/pseuds/JinxQuickfoot
Summary: Steve had tried not to think about what Hydra had done to Bucky. He had put all his focus in finding him and bringing him home. But sometimes he couldn’t stop himself picturing just what lengths Hydra had gone to to turn the brave, good man he had known into the Winter Soldier.It was one thing to know it was hell. It's another thing to experience it.----------------------------------------------------------------------------Steve wakes up in Hydra's custody. Can he break through to Bucky in time to get them both out of there?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers
Series: Weaknesses [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672462
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39
Collections: Weaknesses





	The One Where Bucky is Steve's Weakness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CapGirlCanuck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CapGirlCanuck/gifts).



> Day 24 of the "Weaknesses" writing challenge  
> 
> 
> [Come say hi on Tumblr - I take requests!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jinxquickfoot)

The first thing Steve sees when he wakes up is Bucky’s face.

“Buck?”

Steve’s cold - far too cold. The serum shouldn’t allow…and why can’t he move? He blinks the fog from his eyes and sees Bucky moving to his side, wrapping a leather strap around his wrist, fastening it the arm of some kind of chair.

Steve tries to sit up, but he’s fully restrained, every part of him locked down. He’s in a dark room that smells of harsh metal and chemicals, the only door made from solid steel, next to a black window Steve assumes is a one-way mirror.

“Bucky. Look at me.”

Bucky ignores him, checking the restraints to make sure they’re secure before he nods at the mirror. There’s a beat, and then there’s the click and slide of a key and the door is opening.

A short woman with white hair pulled into a flawless bun steps into the room, dressed in a general’s uniform. Steve tenses at the sight of the Hydra emblem on her chest, and it all comes back to him in a flash.

Sam. The Hydra base. The cryo-chamber.

“Captain,” General Katrin Riegal greets him. “Did you sleep well?”

Steve jerks against the restraints, looking for a weakness, but Bucky has secured him too tightly. Others are entering the room now, disappearing behind him where he can’t see. He can hear them though, the start-up of machinery, the whirring of something above his head that he can’t quite see.

“I would like to thank you for your cooperation, Rogers.” Riegal steps further into the room until she’s right next to the chair. She runs one hand up Steve’s arm, her hand hot against his still cold skin, and he instinctively tries to flinch away from her. She smirks at him, continuing running his hands over his arms, his chest. 

“Such an impressive specimen,” she breathes. “You are fine acquisition for Hydra, Asset.”

“I will _never_ work for Hydra.”

“I’m sure your friend thought the same.” Riegal leans in so her face is right above Steve’s. For one wild moment, he thinks she’s going to kiss him, but instead she forces his mouth open and presses a rubber bit between his teeth. “But it didn’t take long before Barnes was ours. You will be too. It will less painful if you don’t fight it.”

Steve glares at her as she runs her fingers through her hair, caressing his cheek before stepping back. “Begin the programming.”

Steve feels his blood turn to ice as he feels something close around his temples. He looks after at Bucky and, for a split second, he thinks he sees something spark in his best friend’s eyes.

Then the pain begins.

***

Steve had tried not to think about what Hydra had done to Bucky. He had put all his focus in finding him and bringing him home. But sometimes he couldn’t stop himself picturing just what lengths Hydra had gone to to turn the brave, good man he had known into the Winter Soldier.

It was one thing to know it was hell. It's another thing to experience it.

When Steve finally comes around, when the white-hot pain from the machine has finally stopped burning through his skull, he sees a pair of steel-blue eyes looking into his.

The bit is pulled from his mouth and then there’s the cool touch of metal on the back of his head, helping him sit up as a straw is pushed between his lips. Steve drinks greedily, letting the water wash away the metallic taste that lingers on his tongue.

It’s just him and Bucky in the room.

Steve glances over at the two-way mirror before he croaks, “Buck…untie me.” His heart skips a beat as Bucky reaches for the restraints, only to sink again as he realises Bucky is only checking that they’re still secure before turning to leave the room.

“Bucky! It’s Steve. Come on - I know you’re in there. Don’t…don’t leave me. Not again.”

Bucky’s metal hand pauses on the door handle.

“You don’t belong to them. You know you don’t.”

Steve risks another glance at the mirror. Are they being watched? If he’s getting through to Bucky, he doesn’t know how much longer he has before they’re interrupted.

“Do you remember Rachel Johnson?”

Bucky doesn’t take his hand off the handle, but he doesn’t leave the room either.

“Red curly hair, wore that blue dress that drove you crazy. You said she was smart as a whip with a sense of humour to match. Remember? You wanted to set me up with her younger sister because I was rubbish with girls. _Still_ rubbish with girls, let’s be honest.”

Bucky’s hand left the door handle. _Come on, Buck. Remember._

“Things were going well but she had that pyscho for a brother. You know…” Steve has to strain for the name, a brief moment of panic at the tiny hole in his memory. “Dylan. He came after us, remember? In that dive bar we used to hit after class.”

Steve pulls at the restraints around his right wrist as he talked, putting all his strength into trying to rip himself free. “He and his mates dragged us out into that disgusting back alley. You tried to fight them off but Johnson had a knife to my throat. Do you remember how we got out of that?”

The door to the room bangs open and then Riegal is there, strolling over to Steve’s side. She grabs the bit from the surgical tray and stuffs it back in his mouth. “No more talking.”

Then she switches the machine back on.

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: This fic/series is currently on hiatus while I work on the [Whumptoberverse](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26438419). You can check out my Steve & Bucky fic from that series [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26439220/chapters/64415188).
> 
> So hey, I have this film and screenwriting podcast? It's called "Kill the Cat" and once a month my co-host and I and break down one of our favourite movies or tv shows and look at why they work, including Harry Potter, The Princess Bride, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and, of course, the MCU.
> 
> You can check it out on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ypaen3yM5Q&t=1s&ab_channel=KilltheCatPodcast), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5hCprc9UCBZP4srFrBXKT1?si=ZOqdhMlVQvqV2fG5PxuvOA), or anywhere you listen to podcasts. 
> 
> And hey. You're doing great.


End file.
